Job satisfaction, academic workload, perceived stress and coping strategies among lecturers of the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

Abstract

This study investigated job satisfaction, academic workload, perceived stress and coping strategies among lecturers of the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. The purpose of the study was to establish the correlations between job satisfaction, academic workload and level of perceived stress among participants. The study adopted the cross-sectional survey design using the descriptive approach of research. The proportional stratified sampling, simple random sampling, and purposive sampling techniques were applied to select the sample for the study. Questionnaire was used to collect data from 159 participants. The research questions were analysed using means and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using the Simple Linear Regression, Pearson‟s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient, Independent Samples t-test, and the One-way Analyses of Variance (ANOVA). The study revealed that the most stressful source of lecturers‟ stress was teaching large class-size, and the most preferred coping strategy for mitigating stress was the use of alcohol/stress reducing drugs. The findings further revealed that academic workload predicted lecturers‟ perceived stress level, academic workload inversely correlated level of job satisfaction, and that lecturers‟ perceived level of stress was negatively associated with their level of job satisfaction. However, gender, age, and status of lecturers did not influence their perceived level of stress. The study recommended that more lecturers should be employed to commensurate with the increasing lecturer-student ratio so as to ease stress among lecturers. It is also recommended that lecturers should be provided with counselling to assist them to use healthy coping strategies to mitigate work-related stress.